Ron is mentioned in the thread at WUS. He should drop by here.
Hello everyone!
I used to post quite frequently in the past on F72, but following a mixup with my credentials I was locked out of my account for a time and became more of WatchUSeek reader than poster. But today, I am back and planning a series of posts about the process of creating a watch brand in China. This is a topic close to my heart and I wish to draw from my personal experience going through this process to present something that I hope you'll all find compelling. Rather than focusing on my watches, the focus of the posts will be on the creative and entrepreneurial journey that underpins the creation of microbrands and my hope is that we can start a lively and enriching discussion around this (and that, too, it can help the ones of you who are contemplating starting your very own venture).
First, some quick background about myself and my interest for Chinese watches. I am from France, have studied in the UK and China and have been watching (terrible pun intended) and collecting Chinese watches since the ripe old age of 14. For the first few years, I grew my knowledge of the field and developed a passion for it. But it was not until 2014 that I can say became a true part of the community. Indeed, as I was studying at Renmin University in the summer of 2014, I chanced upon Ron Good (AlbertaTime) at the Beijing Watch Factory store in Wangfujing as he was on his annual trip to China. Sharing a common interest, we hit it off immediately and Ron was kind enough to spend the days that followed teaching me more about Chinese watches and introducing me to people in the field. That is how I came to meet Li Wei, one of the senior members of the China Horologe Association, who quickly became a mentor and a (very) good friend. A year later, as I came back to Beijing to study at Peking University, Li Wei and I developed a close relationship and he introduced me to a whole world of Chinese watchmaking, Chinese culture and baijiu (rice alcohol that would warm up an Inuit such that they'd think they were in Honolulu)! All these companies whose products I had been craving were suddenly open to me: Seagull, Beijing, Dandong, etc. had no secrets anymore. During that year, I became an official member of the China Horologe Association and learned more about China and Chinese watches than I ever expected.
https://forums.watchuseek.com/f72/journ ... 39765.html